Our Story : The Preparation and Opening of Loverly
The following are journal entries detailing the birth of Loverly...from an ugly duckling to our beautiful, sophisticated swan (or should that be from a gutter snipe to a lady?)
Feb. 9-10, 2007: After jumping at the opportunity to rent space in Plantiques (after a 30 minute consideration), and giving Pam Phillips a week or so to clear out the storage room that was to become Loverly, we started painting and getting organized (and constantly remind ourselves that this isn't the dumbest thing we've ever done!).
This is Plantiques — the shop in which Loverly resides.
It's owned and operated by Pam Phillips.
A look down the sidewalk to more shops within historic
Hilton Village.
The future home of Loverly... which wasn't much to look at in the beginning.
Ellen starts scraping the loose paint (or is that
a glamour pose?).
Look ma, I can spell! First day is complete with a
coat of paint on ceiling, walls and trim.
And on the second day, SOMEONE had the wonderful idea to remove the existing linoleum and clean up the hardwood floors to make them beee-u-tiful. Ha! Notice the look of "do we really know what we're getting ourselves into?" And the answer to that question? NO!
We made a tremendous mess and after an hour or so
of sanding, two hours of cleaning, and another hour to put on the second
coat of paint, we decided to go to plan "B" for the floor.
But aren't we loverly?!
Feb. 17: After last weekend's fun and games, Ellen and I headed to Lowe's to pick up vinyl flooring tiles and track lighting. The flooring was installed and Kim's dad came down from Maryland to help us put up several slatwall units and picture moulding (yay for dads!!). Unfortunately, we were so caught up in the work, we neglected to take pictures.
Feb. 24-25: We're off to Warrenton, VA thisweekend to have
a Girlie Art Weekend (GAW) with friends and family...we're playing with mosaics!
Then we'll resume work on the shop the following weekend and soon be open
for business (finger's crossed!).
March 3-4: Oh my gosh, I'm tired! Last weekend was so
much fun, it was hard going back to work. But work, we must. We've picked
up several furniture pieces for the store, and more is being delivered
next weekend, barring bad weather. This week I've been working on how to
display the jewelry and Ellen is working HARD studying for her EMT class
(like she doesn't have enough to do, she's in the middle of training to
become a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician - wow!)
March 10: WE'RE IN!!! We moved in some really great pieces of furniture, half of which were dragged out of a barn and carted 4.5 hours from Maryland (thanks Jess!!!). We've put up all Kim's jewelry and some really cool beads, a fabulous painting of Ellen's and some cool ceramic ware. Much more stuff to come, but at least we're open for business. (and paying rent now - so get in there and buy something!)
This is a wonderful walnut buffet that came from my
step-father's mother's house, which she got after her wedding in 1928.
Ellen's really good at polishing - she's in charge of that from
now on. ;-)
As you can see, the place cleans up nicely! We've
got a room full of furniture, jewelry, vintage linens, paintings, ceramics,
and more just waiting to find a good home.
This was a wonderful find - a cherry china cabinet.
M'lady bedecked with beads.
